Pinion thrust equalizer for reduction gears



E.`A. RYDER 1,707,685 PINION THRQST EQUALIZER FOR REDUCTION (.rEARS Original Filed Aug. 20, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 April 2, 1929.

April 2, 1929. E. A. RYDER y Ww W' ATToRNaY.

Pme A,... 2, 19a; 1,701,685

UNITEDl STATES PATENT OFFICE. annui A. Barnim, or'wEsT mrronnconimcncun Assioma To Tnx PRATT a WHITNEY 4AIRCRAFT co., or HARTFORD, coNNEcTIcUT. f

PINIoN THRUT EQUALIZEB ron nEDUTioN Guns.

` origini appucvaun mea augmjao, im, seriairiro. 130451.- Divided ma am appumion 'ma January' l 23, 1888. Serial flo. 248,798.

This invention relates ingeneral to i m This invention includes meansto.. insure provements in gearing forthe transmission the even distribution of thetooth load over of rotary power and more particularly is the several pinions in defeat' of the distorconcei'ned with planetary gear reduction tion of the parts and despite possib1e-in- 55H 5 means for use between the crank shaft lof an accuracies in fabrication and assembly. z

aeronautical engine-and its pro ller, .and I t is well understood that light weight, is a division of my a plication, erialINumwhich isparamount in aircraft construction, ber 130,451,jpinion t rust equalizer for recan best be attained by causing-'every part l'duction gears, filed August 20, 1926. of a device to work at the maximum permis-V 60 V Such ear reduction means for-use between sible stress for the materialmf which it -is the cran shaft of an aeronautical engine and fabricated. its propeller is, in'general, well known in the The vibration previously discuss d may be art but my improvement relates more s'pecicof such magnitude that a considera le, defiecally to a novel means for equalizing the tention of the end of the crank shaftais likely 65 l5 sion of a plurality of planetary pinions on to ensue with the result that this portion of their respective shafts. theshaft will not always remain perpendicu- In engines of this kind the propeller lar to the plane of the fixed or sun gear. Simff c l as the fly wheel and it has been found that ilar deflections are often"'caused by lack of the'gearing between the crank shaft and the running balance in the propeller. The drive 70 engine must be capable of transmitting a ing gear` is fixed to the shaft and moves with l torque many times greater than the average it'with the result that the pinions which are torque of the'engine. between the driving gear and the su'n gear l This condition is due to the impulsive and will' be subjected to uneven loads. It is in irregular accelerative torque derived from an effort to compensate for such misa-lign- 75 the explosion of an internal combustion enment due toy the lateral oscillation of the gine which varies widely from the mean crankshaft that this invention has come'into torque. The-vibration consequently set up in existence. the crankshaft and the .gearing connecting In the transmission `of power by bevel the same'to the propeller-'is capable of serigears, the useful load or force occurs in aV 3.0

ously destructive' action, especially when'thedirection tangential to the pitch surface ofA vperiod of -vibration synchronizes with the the gears. Due to the angularity of, the natural period of torsional vibration of the contact between the gear teeth, axial forces crank Shaft. Y are also generated, tending to separate the In the 'gear reduction means utilized in my gears, .the magnitude of these forces being 85 invention I propose to employ planetary a function of the pressure angle of the teeth.

bevel gears'having a driving gear, a fixed For a given pimon functioning in combinasun gear, and the planet pinion carrier or tion with its mating gear, the axial load (also cage as the driven member. In myv drawf/called thrust load or thrust pressure) conings I have-disclosed six pinion gears; The stantly .bears a certain proportion to the 90 40 maximum added'strength due to usingamultangential or useful force transmitted. It` tiplicity of pinions is achieved only when follows'from this that if a pluralityof pineach of-tlie pinions'bea'rs its full share of theions meshing with a common gear carry equal load. With rigid mountings for all the gears tangential loads, they will generate equal and pinions, the limitations of practical conthrust pressures. struction render -it difficult if not impossible In a bevel planetary gear'of the 4type conto manufacture the parts so accurately that templated in my invention the several planet this shall occur. Additionally,l the vibrapinions are so constrained by the pinion cartions incidental to operation ofthe engine rier that their respective: axes are yheld in a tendto cause suchv deflections as to throw a 'certainfixed relation to cach other, this rela- 10o large roportion of the load on one or a 'tion being such that all the pinions can mh few of) the pinions, at least momentarily. properly with the gears on either side. .For

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' provide an anchor for the shafts of my pinexample, with six pinions, and the number of teeth on the two gears even multlples of slx, the pinion axes may be equally spaced about the centerline of the two gears. If the various parts are placed in relation to each other as above described, and the pinions are additionally constrained axially so as to bear equal loads, a slight axial movement of any one pinion away from the center of the system will reduce the tooth pressure of this pinion, owing to the tapered form of the teeth, and will coincidentally reduce the thrust pressure of this pinion. Conversely, if the axial constraining force on a pinion be reduced in amount that pinion will move out- Warduntil the tangential load it carries is reduced in like proportion. It is therefore obvious that any means which will equalize the thrust pressures of the several pinions will also equalize the tangential loads carried by them, and it is to this end that my invention is directed.

In the present disclosure the shafts of the three adjacent'pairs of pinions /are anchored to the ends of levers which are in turn pivotally connected to a rigid floating ring so that the pinions automatically seek a position in which the tooth loads are balanced.

It is an object of my invention to provide a means for insuring an equal distribution of tooth loads over the several pinions.

It is the prime object of my invention to ions such as to insure an equal distribution of the load amongthe several pinions regard less of the number of pairs of pinions used.

A further object of my invention is to dispense with all means of adjustment of the pinions, with aview to avoiding the bad results of improper setting.

Other objects of my invention will appear in the accompanyingr specification and claims and will be disclosed inr the accompanying drawings in which .Figure 11 is a central vertical section through my device.

Figure 2 is an end elevation showing my pinion shaft anchoring means.

Referringr now with greater particularity to the drawings, it will be seen that my device `is comprised as follows:

v The engine crank-shaft 1 is journaled in a suitable bearing 2 in the forward end 3 of the crankease 4. A housing 5. is ixedly secured to the crank case 4 by any suitable means, such as screws 7, and supports an anti-friction bearing 8 for the crank shaft 1. lThe bearing 8 is provided to support the lpropeller sleeve 9, the inner end of which is provided with an angular-ly but substantially radially extending web 10, the said web being constructed .with a lcircumferential toothed portion 11. The extended portion 12 of the crank shaft is rigidly'supported by a bushing 13 mounted Within the. sleeve 9, and

the outer end of the sleeve is supported on the The drivinggear 17 is splined at its hub portion 18 to provide a snug sliding fit with thesplines on the shaft so that the gear rotates in unison with the shaft. The gear 17 has a substantially radially extending annulus or driving portion 27. This gear is se-A cured against movement axially of said shaft by a flange 19 on the inner side thereof, and on the outer side by a gland nut 20. On one side ofthe hub portion 18 of the driving gear 17 there is provided a thrust-bearing 21 of the radial type secured in position by means of a nut 22. .A sun gear 23 is mounted on the outer side of the bearing 21. On its outer periphery this gear is provided withimeans such as a plurality of splines 24 for interlocking engagement with corresponding means or splines 25 on an annular member' 26 secured to the crank case 9 by bolts or screws 7. The nature of this sun gear mounting is such that it is capable of a limited motion angularly with respect to the axis of the crank shaft, the splines 24 and 25 and the thrust bearing 21 being adapted to permit such a movement, and a sufiicient space being provided between the inner face of the sun gear and the outer surface of the crank case for this purpose.

against rotative movement about its own axis. A pinion cage 30 is rotatably mounted on hub 18 between the annulus 27 and the sun gear 23,a slightclearance 31 beingA left be- The pinion cage 30 presents portion to recei ve the inner bushings 45, and an'outer portion toA receive the outer bushings 45, `and 1s provided with an internal toothed portion 34 which meshes Withvthe toothed 'portion 11 of the propeller sleeve web 10, the former encircling the latter. The teeth of 34 and 11J have a sliding fit with each other longitudinally of the crank shaft axis to permit of ready assembly, the Whole propeller gear assembly being removable by removing screws 7 -after the propeller sleeve has been removed. To remove the reduction gear assembly it is necessary only to remove the nut 20. i

As before stated, I propose to utilize aplu- -The splines 24 and 25 retain the sun gear rality of bevelpinions in my reduction gear. In the draWingsI have disclosed the use of iso gears being positioned with res ect to the cage by pivoted shafts 53 and t e teeth of L i the thrust of the inion, one race 48 of the said bearing abutting a shelf 49 in the pinion bore 50 and the other being supported by a flange 51 formed on the nut 52, the nut being screwed on to an adjusting bolt 53 forming the shaft of the pinion, the shaft in turn is secured to a floating anchor member 54 normally `concentric with the crank shaft. The structure of this floating anchor member is one of the principal features of my invention.

In devices of this kind, of which I have been aware heretofore, it has been proposed to provide a rigid floating ring for equalizing the thrust on the several pinions, the shafts of the pinions being connected directly to the anchoring means. To this rigid oating ring the inner ends of the pinion shafts were anchored in such a manner as to/permit of a limited oscillation angularly with respect to the crank shaft, the anchor ring being capa-- ble of alimit ed floatingmovementwradially about the crank shaft.' Such a structure is suitable for equalizing the thrust pressures of two or three pinions .but will not serve its purpose in the case of a larger number. Con- Siderv the conventional embodiment of' this I device in which six pinions are to be used.

If one pinion is slacked ofi:l due to faulty construction or adjustment or to unequal wear of the thrust bearings, this pinion would bear no thrust pressuref and carry no load. There is nothing in a rigid floatin ring to draw this pinion down in'to mesh to ear its portion of the load. Further, while a ri 'd fioating ring might serve in a structure to alance the thrust of two oppositely mounted pinions, and whileI it might serve to effect aY partial balance in a system of three pinions it would not serve to balance the thrust of six pinions as it would affect only those pinions opposite or nearly opposite the oneon which the in creased load has been impressed.

Having reference again to the drawings and especially to Figure 2it will be seen that my floating anchor ring -54 has pivotally secured thereto on' equally spaced pivot studs. f

55, a plurality of equal armed levers 56. Adjacent the ends of the levers 56 are positioned suitably formed pins 57 to which the inner ends of the pinion shafts are rotatably secured, the pinion shafts beingrotatable in a plane perpendicular to the axes of said pins.

. From the foregoing it will be seen that any variation of pressure in any one of the shafts will be reflected immediately in and balanced by all the remaining pinions. Any unbalanced pressure on any one pinion shaft will immediately be reflectedin the pinion shafton the other endof the'lever on which it is mounted. V'When the conventional form of such gearing, herein,-befor e discussed, wherein a rigid floating ring, having three pinions anchored thereto, is used, it has been found that a fair balancin may be obtained when not more than the t reepinions were used but that, when six or more pinions were employed, two 'opposing pinions would tend to balance, taking all of the distorting stresses leaving the remaining four pinions substantially unloaded. With the structure which I have now disclosed it will be seen that my my invention, comprising, as it does, a plurality of pinions mounted on opposing ends of levers positioned equidistantly around a rigid fioating ring, provides a means for gardless of the number of pairs of pinions ein- 'ployed The self vadjustingcapabilities of the rigid ring have equal armed levers, pivoted thereto each end'of which levers'pinion shafts are pivotally ymounted, provide automatic compensation for any slight difference in the length of the pinion bolts so that it is unnecessary to incorporate means` of adjustment to compensate for inevitable inaccuracies of maufacture of the various parts.

I claim:

1. In combination, in a gear reduction means, a drivingl bevel gear, a fixed bevel gear, a plurality of shafted pinions therebetween, a rigid floating anchor ring for the shafts of said pinions, flexible means for se- -curin'g said pinion shafts to said'ring, and a driven member.

2. In combination, in a gear reduction means, a drivingbevel gear,afixed bevel gear, a plurality of shafted pinions therebetween, a

-rigid floating anchor ring for the shafts of said pinions, means for securing in balanced pairs said pinion shafts to said ring, and a driven member. i 3. In combination, in a gear reduction means, a driving bevel gear, a fixed bevel gear, and a plurality of shafted pinions therebetween, a rigid floating anchor ring for the shafts' of said pinions, equal armed levers pivotally secured to said ring, said shafts being pivotally secu`red to the ends of `said levers, f and a'driven member. f

4. In combinatiOD, n a gear reduction means, .a driving'bevel gear, a fixed bevel gear, a pluralityl of shafted pinion gears therebetween, said pinion gears being flexibly mounted between said driving gear and said fixed gear, and a driven member.

5. In combination, in a gear .reduction means, a" driving bevel gear, a fixed bevel gear, a plurality of shafted-pinion gears f therebetween, a floating rigid ring, said' pinvfion gears being flexibly secured to saidrigid 'floating' ring, and/a driven member.

6. In combination, in a gear reduction means, a driving bevel gear, a fixed bevel gear, a plurality of `shafted pinion gears therebetween, a rigid oating ring, said pinion gears being fiexibly mounted 1n adjacent pairs on said rigid floating ring, anda drivenmember.

7. In combination, in a gear reduction means, a driving bevel gear, a fixed bevel gear, a l*plurality of shafted pinion gears therebetween, a rigid floating ring, evers pivoted to said ring, the/shafts of said pinions being secured in pairs to the ends of said levers, and a driven member.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

EARLE A. RYDER. 

